THE  only song he knows is loyalty.  Complete loyalty.  Not half measure.  It is either one is 100 percent loyal or one is not loyal.  Not even 99.99 percent loyalty is good enough in his estimation.

He practices what he preaches: He is completely loyal to leadership and followership alike.  Once he declares his loyalty, he never wavers.  He is consistent and persistent.  Welcome to the world of Chief Anthony Akhakhon Anenih who has just rebounded as Chair of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

His second coming as BoT chair has created excitements in political circles within and outside the PDP and across the states of the nation.  This is attested to by the volume of congratulatory messages and positive comments in the media on the heels of his coronation, through consensus, by members of the Board.

He was in the saddle from 2004 to 2007 when he was ousted by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who had then finished his second term, in a civilian coup plot at a meeting ahead of the original meeting of the Board at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja.

Anenih had taken the development philosophically, attending the meetings of the Board under Obasanjo’s chairmanship.  He had remained loyal to the PDP and the Federal Government, which was then under the presidency of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua, availing these levels of authorities with his wise counsels and solid support.  President Goodluck Jonathan is also a beneficiary of Anenih’s loyalty.  He had consistently played the role of a father-figure in his interactions with the late Yar’Adua and now with Jonathan.

This is the outlook of Anenih’s avuncular politics within the ambience of the PDP.  Persons in the outside world of the PDP have also benefitted from his eleemosynary, his large-heartedness. This, perhaps, explains the air of celebration and renewed hope that has pervaded the PDP.  Leaders and members of the PDP have continued to applaud his return in the saddle of the BoT.  It is the celebration of a man who has done so much for humanity.

In his political and public service life, he has come to cut a niche for himself as the Leader, which is exciting to him and his followers.  It is the sobriquet of “Mr Fix It” or ‘The Enforcer” that he and his loyalists spurn because of their derogatory nature.  This is why analysts are correct when they contend that Anenih means different things to different people; and while some choose to like him, others hate him.  Yet, some others simply fear him.  But whether you like, hate or fear him, he is someone that you cannot ignore in the politics of Nigeria.

Anenih has never contested for any public office; yet, he has become one of the most talked about politicians in the country today.  He is perceived differently by political allies and foes.  While some see him as a threat to the country’s democratic experiment, especially after he had contributed to the defeat of their preferred candidate in any electoral contest, those whom he helped to power see his role as salutary to the democratic process.

His enigma has survived trenchant attacks and vicissitudes of politics and politicking.  These attacks were much pronounced during the June 12, 1993 presidential election annulment when he was National Chairman of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) on whose platform the late MKO Abiola contested and won the election.  From then till date, Anenih has been under unjustified attacks for collaborating with his associates in the party to allegedly negotiate away the pan-Nigeria mandate of Abiola by supporting the government of the late General Sani Abacha.

How Anenih related with the June 12 issue was a measure of his enigma-the mystery of his staying power and survival.  His traducers have failed to even realise that the compromises reached by the political class of which Anenih was a member was a sacrifice to keep the country united.  The political class knew that the military government was desperate to hold on to power and to dare the military tactlessly was to commit suicide.  To stay alive and keep the country united became the directive principle of Anenih’s political interactions.  It was not that he loved Abiola less but that he loved Nigeria more.

Contrary to the suggestion that the July 2012 governorship election, which his party lost to the incumbent Governor Adams Oshiomhole of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), has demystified him, Anenih’s decision and instruction to the party not to challenge Oshiomhole’s victory in court has amounted to a masterstroke that greatly enhanced his politics of rationality.  He discounted the barrage of insults that Oshiomhole hurled at him in the build-up to the governorship election.  Love of State was paramount in his mind; and the PDP Edo Chapter issued a statement explaining that it would not go to court in order to allow the governor to concentrate on statecraft and rapid development of the state.

A  leader of the ACN in Edo State, Prince Joe Okojie, who is from the same Edo Central Senatorial District with Anenih, had commented on the Anenih enigma shortly after the 2012 governorship election in which the PDP reportedly lost in Uromi, Anenih’s home town.  Read him: “I will not say that the Uromi people have disappointed him.  Chief Anenih is our leader, our father, our elder statesman and he will continue to be, as such.  He has done his bits; we cannot underestimate or begin to relegate what Chief Anenih has accomplished in the Nigeria political history.

“Like I have often said, if Chief Anenih were in the western world, what you call advanced countries, he would have been likened to the like of Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, Karl Marx of this world; there would have been a school of thought in political economy called Anenihism.  So, nobody can forget that.  Chief Anenih hails from the minority within the minority and inside the minority.  He is even from Uzenema which is a minority in Arue (and) Arue is a minority in Uromi; Uromi is a minority in EdoState and EdoState is a minority is a minority in Nigeria.  You can picture that.  For a man to have come from that background and risen to where he got to in Nigerian political arena, that is something worthy of praise and worthy of emulation.”

While on tour of his campaign for the national chair of the PDP in EdoState, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur had said the State and, indeed, Nigeria, were lucky to have Anenih.  He had described him as one of the best politicians in the country.  After his emergence as Chairman of the PDP BoT on February 25, this year, Tukur had said that with him as Chairman, Anenih as BoT Chairman and Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa-IbomState as Chairman of the PDP  Governors Forum, President Jonathan could now sleep well with his two eyes closed.

Indeed, the circle is complete with the troika on top of the PDP game.  With the feelers that Jonathan is interested in contesting the 2015 presidential election, the trio, especially Anenih, is considered the president’s biggest asset.  He is expected to deploy his experience in support of the re-election bid of Jonathan, consistent with his tradition of having assisted the elections of some office holders in the past, starting with Dr. Sam Ogbenudia as governor of Edo in 1983 on the platform of the defunct National Party of Nigeria (NPN); Chief John Odigie Oyegun as Edo governor on the platform of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1993; Chief Lucky Igbinedion as Edo governor on the platform of the PDP in 1999 and 2003.

It was the turn of Professor Oserhiemen Osunbor in 2007 as Edo governor, but the victory was understandably short-lived because of internal tension generated by Osunbor’s desperation to hijack the party structure from Anenih.  At the national level, he played a great role in the victory of Olusegun Obasanjo as president in 1999 and 2003; the late Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua as president in 2007 and the emergence of Jonathan as president in 2011.

Interestingly, he has not taken advantage of his role in the successful prosecution of these political projects for obvious personal aggrandizement.  Rather than solely appropriate the benefits accruing there from, he has consistently, as a dependable leader, channeled the benefits to his foot soldiers and loyalists.  This perhaps explains why none of his children has been involved in politics and politicking.

What his disposition to empowering his numerous supporters has done for him is to solidify the bond of loyalty between the leader and his followers, whose support has helped a great deal in maintaining his structure and enigmatic politics.  This is the story of how Anenih has consolidated his hold on his vast nationwide structure and largely survived the murky waters of politics.  Will he succeed, this time round, with the 2015 Jonathan’s re-election project?  Only time will tell.

Mr.  JOHNSON MOMODU, a commentator on national issues, wrote from Abuja.